Taiwan and China Data Only SIM Cards

by HKTravelBlog · Published December 10, 2014 · Updated December 10, 2014

I’ve written about similar cards from China Unicom for Japan and Korea. Now China Unicom is offering data only SIM cards for Taiwan and mainland China as well! This is a great option to avoid costly data roaming charges on your home carrier. If you need texting, you can always use WeChat, Whatsapp, or Line. If you need voice calls, there’s always Skype. You can activate them in the country they’re valid for or Hong Kong.

China and Hong Kong Data SIM $150: 1GB

The mainland China and HK data SIM is valid in HK and all of China’s provinces. It’s a bit limited though, with only 1 GB of high speed data, at up to 42 mbps. You have 7 consecutive days to use up your allotment. It’s really only worthwhile for mainland China data. Data in HK is generally very cheap, so if you’re only going to be in HK, don’t bother with this card. You can also tether other devices, which means you can share your connection with other phones, computers, iPads, etc.

Taiwan Data SIM $299: Unlimited

The Taiwan SIM card is great because it provided unlimiteddata for 7 consecutive days. Speeds are up to 42 MBPs. You can also tether other devices, which means you can share your connection with other phones, computers, iPads, etc.

How to use

For both of these cards, you just pop in the SIM card into your phone. If it the data doesn’t work at that point, just add an APN “3gnet” and it should work fine. It was easy for me to use when I went to Japan. I liked not really having to worry about any roaming charges and if I needed to make a voice call I’d just use Skype.

Buy

You can buy these cards at China Unicom outlets in Hong Kong. They’re not everywhere though, might be a bit difficult to find. Here’s a list of some of their stores below.

or you can buy them online through our partner, Hong Kong SIM Card. The site will ship it directly to you before you arrive in Asia. You don’t need to activate the cards in Hong Kong.